Disposable absorbent articles, such as disposable diapers, generally have been manufactured by a process where articles, discrete articles, or components of different materials, such as leg elastics, waist elastics, ears, tapes, fasteners, or other components have been applied to a substrate (e.g., a chassis of a diaper or a web of chassis material) supported on a continuously moving carrier. Often, the speed at which the articles are fed into the process on a carrier is not the same as the speed of the continuously moving carrier conveying the substrate. Thus, the speed of the articles must be changed, using a transfer apparatus, to match the speed of the continuously moving carrier to properly apply the articles to the substrate without adversely affecting the process or the finished product.
Similarly, labels or stickers are typically placed onto a moving substrate when the speed at which the labels or stickers are fed into the process is not the same as the speed of the moving substrate to be labeled or stickered. Thus, the speed of the labels or stickers must be changed, using a transfer apparatus, to match the speed of the moving substrate to properly apply the labels or stickers to the substrate without adversely affecting the process or the finished product.
Transfer apparatuses for the articles may generally comprise a motor and a carrier member operably engaged with the motor. The carrier member comprises a housing having an outer surface configured to receive one or more of the articles to be transferred. The housing is rotated by the motor such that the outer surface receives the article from a first moving carrier in a receiving zone and deposits the article onto a substrate being conveyed by a second moving carrier in an application zone. Considering that the speed of the first and second moving carriers is typically different, the carrier member is typically rotated at a variable rate of speed to account for the different speeds of the first and second moving carriers.
The motors of the transfer apparatuses are typically operably linked to a motor control system that causes the motor to vary the speed of rotation of the housing. The motor control system and the motor define an excitation frequency. The excitation frequency may coincide with the natural frequency of certain materials of the carrier member or other components of the transfer apparatus, for example carbon fiber materials. This coincidence may cause the carbon fiber or other materials to crack. As such, carbon fiber or other materials subject to cracking have not previously been used as a material of a carrier member because of this coincidence, but would be desirable to use because of their high strength and light weight. What is needed are apparatuses that use carbon fiber, or other materials typically subject to cracking, in at least portions of carrier members without coincidence between an excitation frequency of a motor control system and motor and a natural frequency of the carbon fiber or other materials subject to cracking and methods for making the same.